This study explores the conceptions and practices of parent involvement in education that exist among Latin American families with students in Toronto Schools. The individual and collective life histories of 3 immigrant families from Latin America were collected in order to understand how parents and students conceive of parents’ role the education of their children. The findings of this research demonstrate that families’ conceptions are much broader and expansive than what is currently defined as parent involvement within policy and practice in Ontario and are informed by their educational trajectory in their home country and throughout the migration process and their ideas on education. This research serves to shed light on the experiences of Latin American families in their interactions with educational institutions and gives voice to their experiences, ideas and aspirations in their new home.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent or caregiver shared-reading interventions on Hispanic prekindergarten students’ language and literacy scores. In addition, this study investigated the effects of shared reading interventions on Spanish-speaking parents’ home literacy behaviors with their children. Teacher perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the intervention were also examined. The present mixed-methods study was similar to research conducted by Jiménez, Fillipini, & Gerber (2006) and Whitehurst, Falco, Lonigan, Fischel, DeBaryshe, Valdez- Manchaca, & Caulfield (1988) in that shared reading strategies were conducted with parents or caregivers and their children. Differing from previous research, the current study utilized an experimental pretest-posttest control group design, sessions were conducted over a 20-week period, students’ language and literacy scores were examined in both English and Spanish, and Hispanic preschool children and their parents or caregivers served as participants. Statistically significant results were found in students’ oral language scores in English and Spanish. The treatment group scored higher in both languages. Statistically significant results were also found in several aspects of parent or caregiver home literacy behaviors. Parents or caregivers in the treatment group reported reading more to their children in both English and Spanish. The treatment group also reported reading with greater frequency and for greater periods of time with their children. Additionally, children in the treatment group asked to be read to more often and possessed a greater enjoyment for being read to during sessions. Finally, parents or caregivers in the treatment group indicated that they held a greater enjoyment for reading, at the end of the intervention. Teachers in the study perceived the program to be a success and attributed positive changes within the parents or caregivers and children to the intervention.

The two primary objectives for this thesis are (1) to understand the effectiveness of different types of mobile phone based advertisements and (2) to identify if the amount of time users spent viewing an advertisement can be used as a measure of advertising effectiveness. To achieve these objectives, this study first conducted qualitative studies consisting of a focus group with consumers and an interview with a mobile advertising technology provider. Qualitative study results identified the following variables of interest; vividness of the advertisement, product involvement, and consumer goals. Supported by existing literature on advertising, these variables were then used to develop a conceptual model outlining the relationship between the variables and measures of advertising effectiveness. To empirically examine this model, this study conducted a 3x2x4 experiment of high, medium and low advertisement mode vividness, high and low product involvement and four stages of pre-purchase consumer goals. A total of 288 responses were collected from a student sample from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. The dependence relationships outlined in the conceptual model were then analysed using ANCOVA, logistic regression, linear regression, and various other non-parametric analysis techniques. The results of this study suggest that level of advertisement mode vividness and product involvement both exert a strong influence on the effectiveness of the advertisement. However, results on consumer goals suggest that the effectiveness of the advertisement is only affected by whether a consumer goal existed before viewing the advertisement. This study was unable to identify any relationship between the effectiveness of an advertisement and the amount of time users spent viewing an advertisement on a mobile phone.

Much research show that strategies of personalization aiming to meet customers' needs and behaviors are an important aspect to influence the competitiveness within an industry. However there is a gap of studies on how airlines use customer involvement for creating personalized strategies in the field of e-commerce while enhancing the competitive advantage. This study is aims to describe how airlines can create personalized e-commerce strategies by considering the customer involvement in order to enhance their competitiveness. In conjunction with this first assumption the study aims to demonstrate how airlines could increase their customer loyalty by implementing the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) within their e-commerce strategies. A theoretical framework has been developed derived from a review of the existing literature in order to describe how airlines can use personalization as a strategy in e-commerce to develop a competitive advantage.  A qualitative multiple-case study has been chosen for this study. Three companies have been studied within the European airline industry and have been led by a deductive approach which will aim to investigate the theoretical framework.The analysis of empirical findings revealed some relevant conclusions, which can bring value to the research area, and also to the practice. The main findings show that airlines are involving customers into their e-commerce strategies in various forms and different levels regarding a specific project. One of the major result of this thesis is that airlines seem to focus on point of contacts with customers external to the e-commerce platform.

The postmodern ultra-competitive global marketplace makes it difficult for companies to hold on to customers. This is especially true for industries that are driven by commodity products, and the South African fertilizer industry is not excluded from this statement. It is therefore important that companies not only operate to create loyal customers, but also increase and maintain a high level of engagement with their customers. This study measures customer engagement for a South African fertilizer company. In doing so, the study makes use, firstly, of a proposed customer engagement model, secondly, a customer engagement questionnaire and, thirdly, factor analysis as a statistical tool to identify the underlying construct embedded within the data. The results show that only five factors Trust, Involvement, Integrity, Repurchase and Loyalty are antecedents for customer engagement. These factors explain 76% of the variance. Furthermore, it is important to note that all the antecedents were regarded as important by the respondents, and all but one exceed the required 75% level of excellence. The data were tested for reliability and showed excellent reliability in excess of 0.90, as measured by Cronbach alpha. The main finding of the study is that a new model for customer engagement in the fertilizer industry is proposed. This model can be used by future researchers in the fertilizer industry, as well as other agriculture related industries. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The postmodern ultra-competitive global marketplace makes it difficult for companies to hold on to customers. This is especially true for industries that are driven by commodity products, and the South African fertilizer industry is not excluded from this statement. It is therefore important that companies not only operate to create loyal customers, but also increase and maintain a high level of engagement with their customers. This study measures customer engagement for a South African fertilizer company. In doing so, the study makes use, firstly, of a proposed customer engagement model, secondly, a customer engagement questionnaire and, thirdly, factor analysis as a statistical tool to identify the underlying construct embedded within the data. The results show that only five factors Trust, Involvement, Integrity, Repurchase and Loyalty are antecedents for customer engagement. These factors explain 76% of the variance. Furthermore, it is important to note that all the antecedents were regarded as important by the respondents, and all but one exceed the required 75% level of excellence. The data were tested for reliability and showed excellent reliability in excess of 0.90, as measured by Cronbach alpha. The main finding of the study is that a new model for customer engagement in the fertilizer industry is proposed. This model can be used by future researchers in the fertilizer industry, as well as other agriculture related industries. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Äldres delaktighet och inflytande i äldreomsorgen beskriver Socialdepartementet som bristfällig. För att öka äldres delaktighet tillsattes ett verktyg, genomförandeplaner. I den här uppsatsen ställer vi oss frågorna: Hur upplever personal äldres delaktighet på äldreboenden samt vad fyller genomförandeplaner för funktion för äldres delaktighet? Utifrån sex intervjuer med personal på äldreboenden visar resultatet att personalen upplever äldres delaktighet som framåtskridande och betydelsefull inom äldreomsorgen. Personalens syn på genomförandeplaner är att det är ett krångligt men bra verktyg för att öka äldres delaktighet. Slutsatser vi argumenterar för är att äldres delaktighet kan gynnas eller missgynnas av: Personalens förhållningssätt och hur de arbetar, huruvida de äldre är engagerade till att vara delaktiga och om de kan vara delaktiga. Studien visar att genomförandeplaner som verktyg för äldres delaktighet fungerar och ger positiva resultat. Faktorer som kan främja eller begränsa delaktigheten via genomförandeplaner är: kontaktmannaskapet, äldre och personalens förståelse för frågorna och genomförandeplansprocessen. / Elderly people’s participation and involvement in elderly care are according to the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs inadequate. To increase elderly people’s participation, a tool for documentation for implementation was made. In this study we ask ourselves: How does staff experience elderly people’s participation in nursing homes and which function does the documentation for implementation have on elderly people’s participation? On the basis of six interviews with staff in nursing homes the result shows that staff experience that elderly people’s participation is in progress and is very important in elderly care. The staff’s view on the documentation for implementation is that it is complicated. However, they feel that it is a good tool for increasing elderly people’s participation. We argue that elderly people’s involvement can be advantaged or disadvantaged by: How the employee acts and works, if the elderly are committed and if they can be involved. We argue that the documentation for implementation, as a tool for elderly people’s participation, give positive results. Factors that can promote or limit the participation in the documentation for implementation are: the contact person and elderly and employees comprehension about the questions and the process.

This study examined the experiences of parents who enrolled their children in the English or French immersion program. Participants included parents of children in junior kindergarten, senior kindergarten and Grade 2. The primary method of data collection was parental interview. Questionnaires were also administered to parents with children in Grade 2. The results indicated that parents have different considerations when deciding to enroll their children in French immersion or English. Among parents with children in French immersion there was a trend of differential literacy practices and self-efficacy regarding homework support based on parental comfort in using the French language. Overall, the results indicate that parents desire more ease of access to information pertaining to enrollment and French immersion parents desire more easily accessible resources to support their children in homework.

This research suggests that positive parent involvement and partnership with schools is a prerequisite of effective schooling and that co-operation between home and school can raise educational achievement The purpose of this study was to determine by means of review of literature and empirical investigation, the nature of parent involvement in education, methods available to involve parents in the education of children, and the reasons for non-involvement of parents in education of children, The empirical study was aimed at determining the degree of parent involvement and reasons of non-involvement of parents in the education of children in the North West Province in the district of Potchefstroom, as well as the attitudes of educators towards parent involvement in the education system. Chapter 1 deals with the statement of the problem, aims of the research and the methods employed in achieving the purpose of the study, This includes a discussion of the population and sample used for the empirical research and an outline of the chapters, Chapter 2 highlights the nature and scope of parent involvement In education, fundamental and educational grounds for parent involvement were discussed; models of parent involvement were identified and discussed, advantages and disadvantages of parent involvement were mentioned, ways in which parents become involved in education of their children and reasons for non-involvement of parents in education were discussed. In Chapter 3, the focus was on the context of parent involvement in South Africa. Parent involvement in the pre-democratic era and democratic era was discussed. The empirical research design, administrative procedures, population and the random sampling as well as statistical techniques were discussed in Chapter 4. The duly completed questionnaires returned by educators and parents of the children of the selected schools as respondents were empirically analysed in Chapter 5. The last chapter, Chapter 6, throws light on the summary of all the chapters; research findings and recommendations based on the research findings derived from the previous chapters, as well as final remarks. This implies that all relevant issues raised in all chapters are summarised and recommendations are also made. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

Research shows the way adults communicate with children can be classified into two main categories: Adult Directed Speech (ADS) and Infant Directed speech (IDS) (Schachner & Hannon, 2011). Past research focused on the maternal use of IDS; however, the current study investigated differences in maternal and paternal use of IDS. We hypothesize that 1) there will be a difference in the amount of paternal caregiving depending on mothers’ work status, 2) the acoustic properties of IDS will be influenced by the amount of parental involvement in caregiving activities, and 3) infants will pay more attention to parents who use more exaggerated IDS. No changes were found for paternal involvement when mothers were employed compared to when mothers were not employed. No relationships were found between IDS, parental involvement, or infants’ attention. These findings provide a better understanding of fathers’ contributions in caregiving and their influences on infants’ cognitive development.